Confabulation of denial in senile dementia. An experimental study

Some forms of confabulation ('confabulation of denial') seem due to the need to deny demential dissolution by replacing information pointing to illness with expressions suggesting normal health and efficiency. Seventy-six unselected patients affected by senile dementia were investigated in order to study the relationships between confabulation of denial and (a) stage attained by the demential process; (b) degree of memory loss, and (c) personality features and cultural models of the patients. Confabulations of denial were absent in the initial and the most advanced stages of dementia, whereas they frequently occurred in the stages of state and of evolution of illness. Memory loss did not seem to be directly responsible of the symptom, while personality features and social cultural models seemed to have a definite valence in the development of confabulation of denial. Some implications of these findings are discussed.